Global renewable energy investment up 11% in promising third quarter

Investment into renewable energy totalled almost $65 billion (£40.8bn) in the third quarter of 2014, an increase of 11% on the same period last year, according to a new report.

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The report, from analysts Clean Energy Pipeline, concludes that despite a slight decrease in investment in the third quarter, it is likely that 2014 will surpass 2013 for the finance invested into renewables.

The increase was lead by a 15% surge in investment in Asia, up to $14.6 billion (£9.2bn). Investment in Chinese solar projects more than doubled in the third quarter, up to $5.4 billion (£3.4bn), while some $1.8 billion (£1.1bn) was invested in Japan.

“Despite a marginal quarterly decrease in clean energy investment in 3Q14, it is increasingly likely that new investment levels in 2014 will surpass 2013,” said Douglas Lloyd, CEO of Clean Energy Pipeline.

“This is welcome news for the industry following annual declines in investment in both 2012 and 2013.”

The Clean Energy Pipeline analysis presents a similar outlook than that put forward in a recent report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Earlier this month, BNEF estimated that global investment was up 16% year-on-year in the third quarter.

While both reports raised hopes that global renewable energy investment will recover this year after a two-year slump, BNEF warned that support has fallen to an eight-year low in Europe.

The UK fared particularly poorly, with investment tumbling to $789 million (£491m) from $3.1bn (£1.9bn) in 2013. This “notably weak total” is a result of growing policy uncertainty, BNEF said.